Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle! Only three more days ’til The Big Chill. Aren’t you excited? I am! And even more excited after meeting Jason Mowery of Legacy Arts yesterday when he so nicely volunteered to cover Portland in our limited edition, screen-printed posters (that are also for sale here, and at Mayo Street on Saturday!) Legacy Arts brings you handmade pottery, bandanas, and monk’s cloth scarves that aren’t like anything you’ve seen before.

Winter Warmth in Style

If you’re not convinced by the awesomeness of these pictures, we suggest you get to know Legacy Arts by Jason’s gastronomic preferences. Our absolute favorite response to our application question “What is your favorite comfort food?” came from Legacy Arts. “Jim Beam straight and my sister-in-law’s butterscotch cookies.” Um… hell, yes!

We’ve already brought you the great finds from Monkivintage, today we introduce another Big Chill monkey, the creations of Jared Desimio at Dappermonkey. High school teacher by day, sewing master by night and vintage-awesomeness seeker on the weekends. Or, at least we’re presuming from the rustic, rugged and functional finds in his Etsy shop.

MASH Tee - Our favorite was Hunnicutt!

We know you’ll find something you love if you even have the remotest inkling of how badass lumberjacks, woodsmen and Mainers are. We suggest stuffing a couple extra $20s in your wallet before you come to The Chill, just for this greatness alone.

Canvas Tote, Small, Made of Recycled Materials by dappermonkey

And just in case those photographs and descriptions weren’t enough to entice you, when we asked Jared what his favorite winter comfort food was he responded: “Buttery grilled cheese with chunky tomato soup and a bold, red wine.” Yes, Jared, me too!

Come visit dappermonkey and all the other great vendors at The Big Chill Arts, Crafts and Vintage Holiday Sale on Saturday, December 3rd from 10am to 4pm at Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo Street, in Portland, Maine. Yahoo!

Sunday, Sunday! And less than a week to go before The Big Chill! Yay! Today we’re learning about Kathi Langelier and her two ventures, Herbal Revolution and Three Roasted Beets. I can say with personal experience that the homegrown + foraged personal wellness products from Herbal Revolution are amazing. Plus, while you’re dropping them in your tea, rubbing them on your face, sore muscles, or whatever you can think of her wandering the woods outside of Lincolnville looking for just the perfect twigs and roots to help your skin, aches and pains, attitude and more.

The Big Chill: What is the first sign of winter, in your opinion?

Herbal Revolution: When the tip of my nose is cold all the time. When the ground is hard to dig in to. When I am ready for bed by 7:30. And my favorite first sign of winter is the first real blizzard of the season.

Don't pretend like you don't need stress relief this time of year. Herbal Revolution's tinctures can be added to water or tea to provide support where you need it!

TBC: What items from your business will keep customers happy + warm all winter long?

Herbal Revolution: There are plenty of herbal products to keep everyone in the family happy throughout the winter months. We have tinctures, elixirs and teas that will keep the immune system boosted, the nervous system uplifted and cheery and the respiratory system supported.

We have some great lotions, cream and oils to keep the skin moisturized and nourished during these drier months.

Lastly, we also have some great knit and felted wear. Arm warmers, cowls, scarves, shrugs and wraps. Plenty of warm wool to keep everyone warm and cozy throughout the chilly months!

Better than Botox by Herbal Revolution - From personal experience, I can say this freshens and tightens skin without leaving you looking like a cat in a wind tunnel! Definitely better than botox. 🙂

TBC: What’s your favorite comfort food in the dark of winter?

Herbal Revolution: Roasted tomato and red pepper soup with a fresh mozzarella, red onion and kale sandwich. Warm gingerbread or ginger snap cookies with fresh whip cream And I am a serious sucker for smart puffs cheese puffs as a snack, … oh, and how could I forget a Rogue Chocolate Stout beer to top it all off!?

Happy Black Friday, everyone – we hope you’ll be scouting out the deals at local shops instead of waiting in long, crazy lines at the mall today! And we hope even more that you’ll be joining us on Saturday, December 3rd at the Mayo Street Arts Center (10 Mayo St., Portland) to find some great, local products handmade (and hand selected) by your neighbors.

Today we feature pig + fish, the brainchild of Nanako O’Donnell and Deb Gill, two Mainers with a knack for stylish organization. We were so excited when their application arrived in the mail – being able to bring these gorgeous key holders, clocks, bud vases and coat racks to Portland (even if just for a day) was too much to resist!

It's about time you bought this gorgeous clock from Pig + Fish - click to view listing!

The selection of colors, patterns, found imagery and clean lines in the items from pig+fish provide accents for any home. Boy, oh boy, that clock up there would look great in my mustard yellow and rust orange living room. Where would you put it?

Modern Wall-Mounted Flower Vases

Deb and Nanako wanted shoppers to be sure their flower vases are great pieces for your home all year round: “Flower vases aren’t just for the summer – fresh flowers are welcome any time of year! Our cheerful flower vases uplift year round.”

Who doesn't love airstreams?

And perhaps, most functionally, these key holders (which come in many patterns + colors) are a dream come true for someone like me – I think it’s genetic, but we are constantly losing our keys in my family. If you have a gorgeous place to put them (like, say, the airstream key holder above or the bright and cheery one below) then how can you possibly resist putting them in the same place every time? Favorite.

Ok, duders! Time for some jewelry! Surprisingly, we had very few jewelry applications this year. One of them came from the wonderful Bethany of Sweet Sincerity jewelry, located way up there in Bangor, ME. In advance: thanks for driving down to see us, Bethany!!

The beadwork of earrings, bracelets and necklaces at Sweet Sincerity have always been fancy, ornate, and colorful – and just this year Bethany has been learning jewelry smithing, adding an entirely new dimension to the products she offers. Sweet Sincerity is on Facebook – click here to go to the page and “like” it!

Bethany is intense, like the jewelry at Sweet Sincerity!

Bethany answered some of our “Big Chill” questions, here are her answers!:

The Big Chill: What is the first sign of winter, in your opinion?

Sweet Sincerity: When I stop shaving my legs, comforted by the knowledge that they will not see the light of day for the next 7 months…

TBC: What items from Sweet Sincerity will keep people happy throughout the dark days of winter?

SS: I hope that the thought of the Sweet Sincerity Jewelry they know they are wearing somewhere under the layers of long johns, mittens, sweaters and scarves will warm their little hearts!

TBC: What’s your favorite winter comfort food?

SS: Tea and cream-filled cupcakes. Or tequila.

Us, too! Join Bethany from Sweet Sincerity for some salt, lime and tequila (ok, not really) at The Big Chill arts, crafts and vintage sale on Saturday, December 3rd at the Mayo Street Arts Center in Portland. Yes!

Hola, readers! We caught up with Bevin Holmberg of Melon Bee who will be sharing her space at The BIG THAW with Melissa Bankhead, seamstress extraordinaire. We learned that Bevin is a recent Maine transplant (Welcome, Bevin!) and that she has a super cool ‘day job’ to help pay the bills…

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The BIG THAW: What goodies can customers expect to see while they’re browsing at The BIG THAW?

Melon Bee: Well, Melissa is going to have some really neat fabric items, like aprons, cute baby bibs, and sweet iPad covers. She does fun fabric trades with her mom, all the way on the other coast in California. I (Bevin) am going to bring prints of a series I painted… it’s an animal for every letter of the alphabet! The originals are colored pencil, ink and water color. I painted all the animals during a pretty miserable winter in Minnesota, and I really believe they helped me maintain some sanity! I have also been working on some little painted panels inspired by Swedish textile patterns lately, and I will have a few at the sale.

Loggerhead Turtle by Melon Bee

TBT: Lots of your work deals with animals and animals are our favorite. Do you pick the ones you want to illustrate at random or for a reason?

MB: Growing up, if I wasn’t outside exploring, I was inside pouring through world book encyclopedias, trying to draw all the interesting animals I found. As a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist, and my favorite animal was a manatee, so that was a given for the letter ‘m’ in this series, but I tried to make some stretches for most of the other letters!

TBT: When you’re not painting what occupies your time?

MB: When I am not making art on my own, I am hiding in the backroom of Trader Joe’s, working on signage for the store. I also love riding my bike and walking around Portland (don’t have a car)… there’s so much to explore! I’ve been taking a ceramics class at Portland Pottery, too, which has been fantastic.

Melon Bee

TBT: What do you love most about the Spring in Maine?

MB: Well, I actually just moved here in September, and the Fall was beautiful! …So, I haven’t experienced a Maine Spring yet, BUT I am super excited because I imagine it’s similar to Minnesota. People just come out of hiding, and everyone is thrilled to get outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. There’s something about warmer weather after it’s been so cold that just makes your whole body relax!

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Thanks, Bevin! You can find Melon Bee’s creations and more at The BIG THAW Arts, Crafts and Vintage Sale on Saturday, April 16th (this weekend!) at 10 Mayo Street (Mayo Street Arts Center). Please email thebigthawportland@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Ohhh drizzle, drizzle. The weather’s forecasting cloudy and in the 40s for Saturday but as long as it’s ANYTHING but this we’ll be psyched! Actually, rain is a huge part of the thaw – after all, how would thirsty crocuses get what they need to start popping their heads out of the ground?

Here’s a bit of glass magic from David Jacobson Glass to brighten up your gray day. We’re intrigued by his text bubbles and beautiful rendered housewares!

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What new wares can customers expect to see at The BIG THAW?

I’ve been making a lot of new work for this show that I’m excited about. Handblown glass bud vases in celadon, robin’s egg blue, turquoise and white. More slumped glass platters and bowls in new color combinations. For example, black and white stripes, cobalt blue stripes, a pale blue stripe that looks like spun sugar. And, my Conversation Pieces™ — just like the word balloons you see in comic strips, but made out of handblown white glass. You can hang them on the wall, if you choose, and write and draw on them with dry erase markers to say whatever you want, whenever you want.

Vases by David Jacobson Glass in super Spring colors

2. What inspires your glass work?

Textile patterns, and colors and textures that I see in nature. The texture of the finished piece is as important to me as the colors I use and how it looks. For example, the glass bowls I make have a lot of texture as a result of the two layers of glass canes that I fuse together.

Textures and Tones in David Jacobson's Work

3. What is your favorite thing about Spring in Maine?

Knowing that summer is right behind, with tennis and kayaking.

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As if we weren’t excited enough for Saturday! You can find David peddling his wares at The BIG THAW Arts, Crafts and Vintage sale this Saturday, April 16th. Mayo Street Arts Center, 10 Mayo St, Portland, right off of Cumberland Ave on the East End. We look forward to seeing you there!